This $4,000 Blended Whisky from 1971 Is Good to the Last Drop

The story of The Last Drop Distillers sounds almost like a movie plot. Two titans of the spirits industry who created some of the world’s most iconic brands (among them Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Chivas Regal 18 Year Old, and Baileys Irish Cream), find retirement doesn’t suit them, so they team up to pursue their true passion

—seeking out fantastically rare casks of world-class spirits and releasing them in minuscule quantities for collectors and connoisseurs.

The Last Drop goes for quality over quantity; since the company’s beginnings in 2008, there have been only nine Last Drop releases.

They’re a mix of single grain whiskies, single malts, blended whiskies, and cognacs. Most of them were limited to less than 1,000 bottles, and in one case a mere 32 were produced.

As The Last Drop approaches its second decade, two of the founders—James Espey and Tom Jago—are now working alongside their daughters, Beanie Espey and Rebecca Jago, and preparing them to eventually take the reins and run the company themselves.